My job required pick-up and destination drop of daily post from the town’s postal office, and I would always run to finish my job before the scorch of the sun hit its peak. People did not seem to mind that I swung by their yards, skipping the road and simply hopping from one house courtyard to another.

I knew the village and its people like the back of my hand, and over a period of time had recognized a pattern of the letters arriving at the different destinations – the monthly bills, court notices and letters from faraway army barracks. Every day was almost a repeat of the prior, the same walls scaled, the same people encountered and the same cow that I almost ran into. The routine had grown on me so much that the mornings felt like a loop of predictable events, except for the final delivery to the village guard – this delivery had me waiting in anticipation – “Who had written to this giant of a heartless man?” I always wondered.

After I descended from the high walls of the police station, my pace had slowed down to a jog - there he was, huge and handsome, a gentle hero -  a letter addressed to him tightly clenched in my tiny hands. It was just as he extended his hand to reach for the envelope that Kasha shook me awake.

****

I was woken after six hours of blissful sleep, the air in the room felt extremely chilly. Fully awake awareness,  felt so different from the trance of the night. Kasha looked only mildly familiar, almost as if a figment from my dreams had taken the form of life.

I walked up and down the familiar confines of the room, as Kasha drew the bath and arranged the suit that I would wear for the days travel – tweed in brown. I glanced at the clock on display which had stopped clocking time, AM or PM who knows. Slowly, I turned the knob to open the doors to the shower room, the steel fixtures inside caught the light from the bedroom in a bright flash. The room was warm, steamy and opaque with darkness – I groped along the wall to switch on the lights.

In the flood of soft yellow lights, I surveyed the spacious and luxurious mirror covered walls, reflecting perfect and endless images of me. In that beautiful warm glow, I threw aside my slippers and stepped into the warm comfort of the inviting bath.

I felt a jolt of hot and then saw a flood of light.

****

Three hours into sleep, and warmth on my toes. I could not be sure if the heat was coming from outside of me or inside – just a feeling of intense heat on my feet. I opened my eyes to dawn, and a busy morning with schedules of delivering mail.

Just yesterday I was at  a neigbourhood where Squash was played outdoors with gates wide open, replaced by sliding cloth mesh.

How could I see those rituals amidst the Pyramids and those goons that the three friends caught

Ancient traditions and modern neighbourhoods.  Shopping with friends and movie premiers. Goats as lawn movers, block tournaments and parties.

Were these stories that you told me, or was I sleeping.